Eagan Yoga Instructor Moves Forward In Global Competition

EAGAN, MN— An Eagan woman has made it to the top five in a global online yoga competition — Yoga Warrior.

The next round of voting ends Thursday night at 9 p.m. central time.

Nicki Lemmon Schwamb has been practicing yoga for seven years and has been teaching full-time for two years.

A global yoga instructor through Yoga MN, she has taught in Mexico and Curacao, but also teaches yoga to professional and high school athletes in Minnesota, she said.

Schwamb is also a wellness event host and hosts retreats, she said.

The Yoga Warrior competition is a way to raise money for the Veterans Yoga Project, which gives free yoga classes that focus primarily on healing and resilience to veterans, Schwamb said.

Money for the project is raised through “warrior votes”, or paid votes in the competition, Schwamb said.

Voting primarily happens through rallying communities over Facebook, where everybody is allowed one free vote per day, Schwamb said.

The winner of the Yoga Warrior competition will win $10,000, a spread in Yoga Journal, and the title of Yoga Warrior 2021, Schwamb said.

Scwamb told Patch that if she wins, she will put the money back into the yoga community through technology she says will bring yoga instructors closer to their communities.

Schwamb said she was drawn to yoga from the first time she tried it.

“I knew the moment I did it, that I needed to make it my career,” Schwamb said.

She told Patch that as she laid on the mat in Savasana, she had never felt more at peace than she did in that moment.

Schwamb told Patch that yoga has had a huge impact on her life.

“It’s a lifestyle,” Schwamb said. “It makes you better at life. Everything you do, it’s a way to make you into your best self.”

Schwamb said that although Americans are very focused on the physical aspects of yoga, it is meant to be a combination of the body, breath, and observation of the mind.

“It usually takes a yogi a few years to realize that there’s something more there,” Schwamb said. “The mindfulness-paying attention to what’s coming in and out of your mind. And when you do that, and focus on your inner dialogue, your mind becomes better at life.”